The third effort from Hughes (Waxworks
, 2003) is by far the least polished, and the most confessional: the daughter of poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath offers one poem for each of the years of her life. Readers of Plath and the elder Hughes may recognize Frieda's parents in the manner of the poems as in the matter. Ted Hughes's autobiographical Birthday Letters
may provide fruitful comparisons, though Frieda Hughes looks more often at her own emotions than at others': "My mother, head in oven, died/ And me, already dead inside." Even as a child, Frieda reports, "I longed/ To fill the void in family/ Between father, aunt and brother-love." Subsequent poems follow her through "undiagnosed dyslexia" at school, borderline anorexia in her teens ("my fat removal/ A vain attempt to gain approval"), a glamorous but unsatisfying first husband, the dull frustration of jobs in sales and real estate, and the trials of chronic fatigue syndrome. Salvation comes through art school and, finally, through writing itself: "My poetry was where I hid/ When my father died." Readers in search of further information about Frieda Hughes's talented parents will find strong sentiments but no surprises; even those who admired this poet's earlier volumes may be taken aback by the artlessness on display. (Dec.)
